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First Certified USB 3.0 Product Available

Ryan Whitwam — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:01:41 -0500

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today approved the first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 product. The product in question is a host controller from NEC Electronics. Having this certified host controller will be a boon to other manufacturers, as they will be able to easily test products using the USB 3.0 spec.

The controller, known as the µPD720200 host controller, uses a PCI Express Gen 2 interface bus. This allows 2 USB 3.0 ports to be easily added to any system supporting the PCI Express bus. Analyst firm, In-Stat, estimates nearly one-third the market will support the SuperSpeed standard by 2013.

NEC Electronics originally announced the µPD720200 in May, but the product has just now been certified. “NEC Electronics has supported the development of SuperSpeed USB technology since the earliest efforts, and it is gratifying to help make the technology become a reality,” said Masao Hirasawa, General Manager, SoC Systems Division, NEC Electronics Corporation.

Check out the press release here. [warning, PDF]

USB 3.0 Equipped PCs Will Be Shipping by End of the Year

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:58:29 -0500

Taiwanese manufacturers might have positioned themselves to begin shipping SuperSpeed USB (aka USB 3.0) before the curtain falls on the year 2009, according to the July issue of Nikkei Electronics Asia. The magazine believes that it was quite evident from the various prototypes on display at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference held in Tokyo May 20-21, 2009 that the commercial rollout of the next-gen USB interface in PCs is nigh.

Japanese company NEC Electronics Corp shipped samples of the first USB 3.0 host controller in early June and expects to churn out a million every month beginning this September. The first devices based on the interface will most certainly be external hard disk drives, with more exciting applications like hd video streaming expected to follow later.

NEC Announces New Wireless USB Host Controller

Paul Lilly — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:42:06 -0500

With the emergence of eSATA combined with Firewire still sticking around, competition remains stiff for USB to stay on top of its game. Helping it do that, NEC this week expanded its wireless USB devices lineup with the introduction of the uPD720171 wireless USB host controller. The new controller ups the ante over NEC's previous model with higher throughput and higher performance.

"As the consumer appetite for wireless connectivity increases, the industry is requiring reliable, standardized interface solutions that can transmit data at speeds equivalent to wired USB connections," said Yoshiyuki Tomoda, Group Manager, SoC Systems Division, NEC. "By providing these performance levels, our new uPD720171 host controller is helping bring the industry closer to mainstream adoption of advanced wireless technologies."

NEC claims the new host controller supports data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps within a maximum range of three meters, along with up to 32 connections to physical wireless USB compliant devices. Pricing and availability are yet to be determined.

Image Credit: NEC